Thread: My first fallow buck and a painting to remember it by

Hi everyone,

Over the Easter weekend I went hunting on private land out Waitomo ways and shot my very first deer - this awesome fallow buck! This trip came after five previous trips, mainly on public land. I've seen deer but never got to be in a position to shoot one.

We were initially tailing a black fallow buck with one antler but, while trying to intercept that buck, we came across this one holding two does, having a jolly time out in the open. After a couple of minutes of trying to get my heart rate under control, I took the first shot using my Howa 1500 with a PMC Bronze .308 round at 220m. It jumped right away so I knew I hit something, but it was also wet and wild at the time so it was hard to tell where the bullet actually landed. We made our way closer and, at about 50m away, saw that it was still alive. The only shot I could take was with it facing the other way. I aimed for the bum but the bullet ended up a touch to the left and went into the head instead. That ended up being the killing shot!

Needless to say, very, very stoked with this deer. I've cleaned his skull in preparation for a euro mount (I didn't save the cape because I thought the headshot ruined it) but I've since found out that you can get it shoulder mounted with a replacement cape, so that'll be the way forward once I save up enough!

In the meantime, I thought I might paint a portrait of the buck, as if it were alive. I couldn't get photos while it was alive so had to reimagine it somewhat with reference pictures from the internet.

All in all, a fantastic day out and hope to get my first red stag soon! Also a shoutout to Joe_90 for giving me a handheld GPS unit and refusing to take any kind of payment for it. Cheers mate!